Transphorm partners Yaskawa Electric to enable the world’s first GaN-based high power converter

February 28, 2013 //
By Paul Buckley

Transphorm Inc. has revealed at the 2013 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit that the company’s novel 600V Gallium Nitride (GaN) module has enabled the world’s first GaN-based high power converter.

Transphorm will demonstrate the product built with its customer-partner Yaskawa Electric, Japan at the upcoming APEC 2013 industry conference. The announcement underscores the technical and commercial progress that Transphorm has made since being awarded ARPA-E funding in 2011 to reduce the amount of electric power waste globally.

Yaskawa’s product, a 4.5 kW PV power conditioner, is powered by Transphorm’s 600 V GaN half-bridge modules, which have enabled it to achieve several industry firsts:

The first high power converter product in the world utilizing GaN technology
The first efficient PV power conditioner to operate at 50KHz
Simultaneous achievement of a 40% reduction in inverter size and 98% efficiency operation, a form and function benefit uniquely enabled by Transphorm’s EZ-GaN module technology

“The partnership between Yaskawa, the world leader in inverter solutions, and Transphorm, the world leader in GaN-based power conversion, has produced the world’s first high power GaN power converter,” said Umesh Mishra, CEO of Transphorm. “This is a disruptive first step which signals the broad adoption of GaN-based power conversion solutions.”

Transphorm’s efficient, compact, and easy-to-embed solutions simplify the design and manufacturing of a wide variety of electrical systems and devices, including power supplies and adapters, PV Inverters for solar panels, motor drives and power conversion for electric vehicles. Transphorm’s proprietary EZ- GaN platform can reduce power system size, increase energy density and deliver high efficiencies across the grid.